Are online college degree programs helpful to your career?

Yes

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by H D Dumas

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The author recently completed his Master's Degree in an on line Secondary Education program so this topic is familiar to me. My greatest obstacle to returning to school last year was an overloaded schedule. Working full time and running a business left little time for relaxation let alone returning to school to expand my career. What hope did this author have of returning to a regular classroom with structured days and courses offered at varying locations? How could I meet the needs of a busy professional and personal life and expand my career? The dream seemed impossible until the author began to contemplate the world of on line learning and the possibility of becoming an on line student.

On line programs offered the best hope of expanding learning despite restrictive schedules. Still, returning to school was a worrisome prospect for this author. Costly programs and uncertainty over which school offered the best degree in any area caused many sleepless nights. Fortunately, I already had a more traditional BA so my first hand knowledge of how traditional colleges operated created the foundation for understanding the structure and creation of on line academic programs.

For example, this author knew that academic programs must be properly certified if they are to be helpful to an employee's career. I knew that certification of varying programs was conducted on a regional basis because my BA was certified by the Western Association of States and Colleges. Various traditional agencies interact with Universities and Colleges to standardize courses and degrees. In short, WASC, CASC and a host of other recognized reviewing agencies provide a framework to maintain the product quality even though the programs are on line and offered by varying Universities within each region.

However, the question arose as to how on line programs could prevail against academic issues like grade inflation or other problems that might occur in an on line environment where traditional tests are no longer valid. Career advancement might suffer if programs proved to be ineffective in meeting Corporate goals for a changing workforce. How can an on line program maintain rigid academic quality on a national level? My research centering in the area of on line programs quickly demonstrated that many schools had grappled with this same issue and solved it by requiring extensive writing and research for each class. Reports were strictly formatted and classes underwent frequent review.

Still, the author's research in on line programs helped to quickly establish the conceptual realization that on line degree programs were and are still in their infancy. Most course curricula and teaching methods continue to rely on written chat discussions, reading of standard texts and uploading written reports when assignments are due. Hands on topics that required teachers to directly supervise the program remained outside of the range of most on line programs. For example, introductory courses in Biology and Engineering can be offered on line but how can a student effectively build a project or conduct research over the Internet? On line programs focus in Education, Business, Law and related areas because specific technical subject areas are more difficult to teach and convey over the Internet. In short, the Internet courses solved time crunch issues but helped to emphasize a 'Hands On Gap' that was difficult to overcome in an on line environment.

One possible solution to the limitations of current Internet courses has been to supplement on line learning with weekend courses or similar offerings that bridge the 'Hands on Gap' by providing the worker turned student with a teacher and a classroom for critical courses. Mixing and matching traditional classes with on line courses has helped schools to offer more programs but working professionals are often unable to attend these classes due to time or distance constraints. Mixing and matching on line courses with on site class schedules solved one problem but created an additional barrier for the employee struggling to advance their career in the shortest possible time.

As an aside,technology has offered some solutions to the 'Hands on Gap' by utilizing telecommunication products meant to allow greater interaction between the student and the teacher. Currently, some corporations schedule meetings using systems that allow Managers to meet and talk with each other despite Oceanic gulfs between their two respective locations. Additionally, a wide array of Computer Assisted Design programs for several fields already exist so Universities may expand telecommunication courses that allow the worker to learn at a Corporate site while using software that promotes a greater understanding of complex problems. Teachers and workers are beginning to use these technologies to expand course offerings and share ideas with a variety of media across vast distances.

In conclusion,on line courses are a valuable tool for employees or self employed persons seeking to expand current skills or start a new career in a new field. The question that remains to be answered is whether or not employers will expand current program offerings and accept on line Engineering or Research degree programs that are taught in non traditional classrooms with various technological innovations. Corporate Employers must lead the way by acknowledging an interest in programs that go beyond the current curricular limitations. Corporate interest combined with employee requirements may lead toward expanded and more productive use of the Internet in the workplace.

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